So the day before I travel almost 1200 miles to get home after my freshman year of college, my car gets backed into. I wasn't in my car at the time, but luckily I knew the other driver. He accepted liability. The damage isn't horrible but it's still an eye sore. I got a check from insurance already, but I'm now weighing my options. I don't know if I need a new bumper cover or a whole bumper assembly. My car had a street scene grill on it when I bought it, and I was never a fan, so I was hoping to get a factory grill out of the deal. It's a 2000 Maxima SE, any help or opinions are appreciated.

I was also looking for a thread of how to post pictures, but I couldn't find how to.

 

Sorry about your car. You need to get an account on photobucket.com and upload your pictures there. Then link them here. I have never been a fan of aftermarket grills. Definitely get a stock one. Maybe do a 5.5 front end conversion?

 

The 02-03 conversion was also one of my first choices

 

man I have seen more accidents and wrecks in past few weeks than ever before on here

 

THEY'RE OUT TO GET US!

 

Sorry about your car mang.

 

http://s95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...ent=nissan.jpg

 

^ Its not that bad. Looks like you just need a new front bumper thats all. The headlight can probably be buffed to clear it again.

 

my other thought was just popping it back out and getting a bra

 

heat it up a bit with a heat gun (or let it sit in the sun for a few hours) and push it out neatly. Buff the paint and light. Pocket the money.

 

on second thought, just bring it to a shop and have a new bumper put on, it'll have the grille with it for the 00-01 model.

 

Damn dude that sucks, dosent look like itll be too much of a hassle though. This is what im afraid of happening to my Max, which is perhaps the reason i park about 15ft away from the nearest car in any parking lot and avoid on street parking. Ive had about 4 mirrors cracked/ripped off due to people that cant judge space and dont know how wide their cars are!
Although, it is a lesson learned...Good luck w/ your car.

 

I was sayin the samething yesterday. Just saw a 4th gen meet its demise today. There are some real MAX haters out there.

 

I'm still debating between the two options. I'm leaning toward buffing and keeping the money simply because getting the new bumper would require install and painting, while buffing could be done relatively cheap. I'm definitely going to heat it up and press it out though.

 

UPDATE: So after 2 1/2 months, I finally got a new bumper. Bought a stock bumper from dnhautoparts.com for $270, painted and shipped. It came in about a month ago, painted. I saw it at my door, ripped the package open, and it was painted alright, but painted green. After a few emails and pictures, they sent return postage and I sent the bumper back to get it repainted. I finally got it back in about a week ago and installed it. The color match isn't perfect, but pretty darn close. I got $850 from the insurance company, so pocketing the $580 wasn't a bad choice either. Plus I got rid of the tacky grille, and back to stock.

PS. It didn't come with an emblem so after searching around, I found an emblem on ebay for $0.99 plus shipping from Hong Kong. After about 5 weeks waiting, I finally got in touch with the seller, who agreed to send another one. About a week ago, I got a call from my old roommate telling me I had a package from Hong Kong, go figure, my paypal was under the wrong address and it shipped to Alabama, when I'm here in Connecticut. Long story short, I'm loving the stock look and couldn't be happier.

 

Congrats man, guess you didnt go through with the conversion tho huh lol

 

Well I looked into it, but the 02-03 bumper wouldn't have come with a grille, and they didn't sell the grille on the same site, so I would've had to buy one elsewhere, which wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but I'm still happy with the result. My next question is if the 02-03 headlights will work with my current bumper like the ebay lights i have do, they fit but not perfectly

 

800$ for a front bumper DAMNN. I would of went for the 02-03 front and a stock grill, painted to match. Still would of pocketed $500 or so. Either way you're finally back on the road. FINALLY

 

Yeah, the stock grille on the bumper I got is painted to match the car also, it's a slick look. The car was still very drivable, it was just an eye sore. I could have possibly milked another $200 or so out of insurance if I made a big deal about the headlights matching if I were to get a new pair, and I also noticed after the fact that the side marker was cracked on the inside too

 

clearly not the right color...


finally installed


i have the emblem on now, but no pics yet